And Doncha Come Back
by Doctor McFly
Summary: Episode Nine: Jack, the Doctor and Marty decide to team up with Captain John Hart - but can this former Time Agent be trusted?
1. A Room in the Wall

(Welcome to my episodic crossover fic. This is episode nine, and while you can start reading here, you might want to visit my profile to get the whole story with Episode One: Frozen in Time)

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 1

Tuesday

June 30th

2015

"You'll never get in if you go through the front door," Captain John Hart still talked in a calm and cool voice, even though Jack's gun was practically pressed against his temple at this point.

"So there's a back door?" Marty asked, but he felt unsure about this stranger. The fact that Jack clearly knew the man and still didn't trust him made Marty even less certain as to why they hadn't shot him and run, but if he did know of a back door maybe they could trick this man into showing it to them.

"There's always a back door. Now lower your gun," his voice became slightly stern, and with that Jack slowly lowered his arm, but still remained tense and kept the gun in his hand, just in case.

"You show us," Jack spoke with malice in his voice.

"Play nice," John smirked. "What's the magic word?"

Marty was beginning to feel overexposed in the alley. They needed to get into a hiding place before someone decided to check there. He was certain there were gunmen sweeping through every alley.

"Please," Marty stepped in front of John, not looking terribly happy but willing to play along for now – so long as Jack stayed on guard with his gun.

"Well someone has manners. Who's the pet anyway? A little young for Torchwood, isn't he?"

"He's just a civilian," Jack explained, not wanting to give any further details.

John nodded, then began walking deeper into the alley, motioning them to follow. "This way."

"Hey," Marty looked at Jack. "What's this guy's deal?"

Jack sighed, a distant look in his eyes, something was deeply troubling him. "I can never tell when he's lying – or when he's actually trying to help me – but we need to keep an eye on him," they followed, keeping a safe distance, and keeping their voices at a whisper.

"How likely is it that he's working for Morton Robotics and is leading us to our deaths?"

"Pretty likely," Jack's demeanor completely changed. He didn't even look at Marty. He just kept glaring at John.

"Should we find the Doctor?"

"Did you lose him?" A British voice asked from behind them.

Marty turned to see a tall, thin silhouette wearing a trench coat. The figure stepped into the lamplight, the Doctor, with a grin on his face.

"What happened to you?" Marty asked.

"Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.," he nodded towards John. "Find a new friend?"

"Not new," Jack said.

"Apparently not a friend, either," Marty added.

John turned, hearing their conversation. "Oh good," he smiled, "the entire class is in session."

"He says he knows a back entrance into the Moroton Robotics warehouse," Jack explained. "We're letting him show us."

"And exactly where is this back entrance?" Asked the Doctor.

"Here," John stepped next to stack of wood leaning against a wall. He pulled it back, and to their surprise it easily swung open like a door.

"How do you know about this place?" Jack could feel his finger move to his gun's trigger.

"I'll tell you inside."

"You can tell us out here."

"Not unless you want to be caught," John disappeared into the dark doorway, leaving the three companions alone to weigh their options.

"Jack," the Doctor looked at his old friend. "Can we trust this man?"

"There was a time when I would have trusted him with my life. We were Time Agents together, but…"

"But?" Marty asked.

"But our lives went down different paths. I don't know him anymore."

"Options are limited," the Doctor could hear some men approaching. They needed to make a decision fast.

Jack took a hesitant step, then another through the door. Marty and the Doctor exchanged glances, and with a wink from the Doctor they followed the stranger into the unknown.

The doorway took them through a dark hallway, another door at the other end. Marty could see a crack of light around it, and as he saw Jack's outline reaching for the handle he got a sudden sick feeling. It was exactly the same right before Rex had opened the other door.

"Don't," Marty protested, but not fast enough. Jack opened the door and Marty caught his breath, but this time there was no room full of machinegun wielding men, just John sitting on a couch in what looked like a lush condominium. The only thing missing were windows.

"Welcome to my humble abode," John spread his arms wide, a pleasant smile on his face.

"There's a back door to Morton Robotics in your home, is there?" Jack asked skeptically.

"The truth is, I work for them. Or at least, they pay me to work for them."

"Pay you to do what?"

"Consult."

Jack laughed. "Consult? On what?"

"I have many desirable skills."

"So you want to help us lose your job?" Marty asked.

"I want to help you because Morton Robotics needs to be stopped. Their CEO is insane and – despite what you might think of me, Jack – I can't just sit around while the world goes to shit around me. When I heard the description of the intruders, I knew it was you. What other man wears _that_ coat in _this_ century?"

"You're one to talk," Marty scoffed. John looked like he has stepped off a battlefield in the war of 1812 – just better armed.

"So you want to use us to do your dirty work?" The Doctor looked slightly annoyed.

"I just want to help you do what you came here to do. What's so wrong with that?"

"Because we can't trust you," Marty stated the obvious.

"This company…" John looked off, sighing, "I didn't know what I was getting myself into, and unlike some people I'm not immortal. If I try to get away from them, they'll track me down like all the other time travellers. I can't escape them. They'll kill me."

The Doctor couldn't stop himself, helping someone in need was practically his mission in life. Besides, the man had a point: it's not like he was asking them to do anything they didn't already _need_ to do.

"All right," the Doctor said slowly. "You get us in, and we'll help you."

John smiled, and Marty already knew it was a mistake to trust him.

**To Be Continued…**

(Having four men in one scene is annoying, or having one scene with multiple characters of the same sex is annoying, because it becomes such a headache to keep straight who's talking – so you can never say "he said" or "she said" because you'll have no idea who that means. So hopefully this never got too confusing. I wasn't too sure how much back-story Jack should give on John. Their history is rather complicated, and long, and it felt weird for Jack to stop and explain their life story together. So I just kept to the bare minimum. If you are interested in learning more about John Hart, watch Torchwood series 2, episode 1, 12 and 13.)


	2. Morton Robotics

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 2

John jumped up happily from his seat and kicked the wall. To Marty's surprise a panel opened and where the wall had been now was a collection of so many firearms Marty's head nearly spun.

"These guys don't joke round, you should take what you can carry," John began grabbing guns and ammo off the wall, shoving them into numerous holsters hidden over his body.

"No thanks, I brought my own," Jack said, not trusting someone else's weapons – and certainly not trusting John's.

"No guns," the Doctor said curtly as Marty was about to take a step forward.

Marty was still feeling a twitch of fear when he thought about all the machineguns that were waiting for them below, but there was something about the Doctor's confidence he trusted. Besides, the worst enemy they might find down there is his old friend the robot, and guns were all but useless against it. He'd rather rely on his wit – and the Doctor's – than some bullets.

Still, John turned and held a gun out to him. Marty thought the Doctor might tell him not to take it, but he remained silent, letting Marty choose for himself. Marty just slowly shook his head. Fear made him want to take it, and he refused to respond to fear anymore.

"Fine," John gave him a strange smile, "more for me."

He pocketed his last weapon and kicked the wall again, hiding the weapons once more.

"I can disable the security system for five minutes, so we need to move fast."

"Will five minutes be enough time?" Marty was skeptical.

"Well it's all I can give you, so make the most of it."

"And where are we moving to?" Jack asked.

"You want to take the company down? You need to take their mainframe down. I can lead you there, but that's where you take over," John looked at the Doctor. "I assume you can handle it?"

Finally the spark came back to the Doctor's eyes. "I think I might be able to manage… _something_," he grinned.

John walked over to small flat screen against the wall and pressed his hand against it. A green light came on, scanning his hand. The floor next to John suddenly parted, revealing a secret staircase winding down into the ground, red lights lining the walls, giving off an eerie glow.

"After you," Jack said warily. There was no way he was going to let John out of his sight.

John went first, and Jack followed closely behind him. Marty gave the Doctor an uncertain look, but quickly tried to hide it with an uneasy smile. After all, the TARDIS was down there – Jennifer was down there – there was nowhere else to go but _down_.

With all four on the staircase the trapdoor above them slid shut, and they were bathed in the red light as they descended on and on into the depths. Marty was beginning to feel dizzy on the twisting staircase and was desperate to reach the bottom. Just how deep had the company managed to dig?

Finally the end of the stairs did come and Marty sighed in relief, his head still swimming slightly, as John pulled a knife out of his jacket to jimmy open a panel next to the door. Wires tumbled out of the open panel and he began to cut wires and re-attach them to different ones until it looked like an impossible puzzle to solve.

"That takes care of security for a bit," John said, closing the panel again.

"Five minutes?" Jack asked.

"More or less," John shrugged, and opened the door.

They stepped into a hallway and for a moment Marty thought they were back in Hill Valley. The hall seemed identical to the ones in the building they had demolished. It was disconcerting how uniform everything Morton Robotic owned was - a series of identical hallways - a series of identical robots. Would they have an identical fate to Jennifer?

"What about sentries?" The Doctor asked, looking left and right down the hallway.

"They're all up above looking for you boys," John turned right. "This way."

The cameras along the wall all seemed turned towards them, but none of them showed any sign of life; they did not move, there was no red light, they just sat there and stared. They just had to accept John's word that they weren't broadcasting anything. And if they weren't broadcasting anything, then of course it was only a matter of minutes – if not seconds – before a break in was discovered.

They ran down each hall, and at every intersection or turn John would stop, peer around the corner to make sure the way was clear, and then they would set off again. Marty could hear his heart beating in his ears, seemingly echoing down the halls. It was way too quiet.

Of course the silence didn't last.

"It's the next door on the left," John said, and as famous last words go, that wasn't a bad entry.

A loud whining siren flared to life, so loud and high-pitched they all grabbed their ears in pain. The lights started having epileptic seizures, flashing red and yellow, on and off. A large metal blast door quickly shut down tightly over the door to the mainframe just as they reached it.

Jack swore, though they barely heard it over the alarm, and he punched the blast door. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but it was no use.

"Dead-locked!" He yelled in dismay.

"No time to override!" John suddenly took off as blast doors began to come down on the halls, sectioning off their escape, they had no choice but the follow him.

They couldn't go back the way they had come, it was quickly cut off to them, so John took them down a new route and Marty got the sense they were being herded like cattle. And they were, blast doors began to come down behind them faster and faster – and now in the distance Marty saw one coming down to completely trap them. John reached it first, merely ducking to get underneath, and when Marty reached it he had to roll to make it through. The way forward was already cut off, and when Marty turned to find the Doctor, he saw nothing but a wall, a wall the Doctor and Jack were on the other side of.

The sirens went dead then, and the lights calmed down, and behind him Marty heard only John's voice.

"Well," he chuckled. "Looks like it's just me and you now."

**To Be Continued…**

(It took me a while to get Marty to the point where he would reject guns. Mostly because I never had much opportunity to address the subject, but also because I have a hard time seeing an American teenager from the 80s being offered a gun and not accepting it. Luckily the BttF trilogy sort of backs me up here – or at least backs up the idea that Marty would hesitate to shoot someone, even if Marty does happen to be a great shot. Anyway, the gun debate is so huge in the Whoverse that it forces its way into any good story – and I'm going to assume this is a good story because somehow I've managed to get quite a few loyal readers. Cheers.)


	3. Trapped in the Closet

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 3

Marty's head whipped back and forth as he looked for some way out of the blocked off hallway. John leaned against the wall, chuckling softly to himself. The only obvious exits were the two ends of the hallway where the blast doors had come down, but Marty wasn't giving up just yet. He started feeling along the walls for a hidden panel.

"You might as well calm down," John said in a tone that made Marty want to shake him and scream in his face.

"Help me or shut up," he shot back instead.

Marty went to the blast door separating him from Jack and the Doctor. He should have been paying more attention to them, making sure they didn't get split up. He banged on the door, desperately hoping to hear some sound of life on the other side. The only sound he heard came from John.

"Stop it already," he was beginning to sound annoyed, but Marty wasn't anywhere close to caring about whether or not he was annoying John.

He kept banging, and without warning he felt a strong hand grab his shirt, swing him around and shove him hard against the wall. John wasn't just incredibly taller than Marty, he had a strength you wouldn't imagine in such a slim man. Marty had both his hands around John's wrist, trying to pry away his hand, but he had Marty pinned like an insect to the steel door.

"I said stop it!" John yelled and Marty felt something snap inside of himself.

All of Marty's frustration and fear coiled into his fist and unraveled itself on John's jaw. John stumbled back, a look of surprise in his wide eyes.

"You're going to regret that," his fingers started moving towards the gun on his hip, and Marty lunged himself forward, he was a cat tackling a huge rottweiler, but he brought that dog down.

The wind was knocked from John's lungs. He hadn't expected someone as small as Marty to be able to give any sort of a fight, and he was too stunned to stop Marty's tense fists from hitting his jaw again and again – finally he caught his breath, and grabbed Marty's wrist. Before Marty could pull away, John swung his head up, impacting it with Marty's nose.

Marty fell backwards, holding his face in pain, trying to get back to his feet. He heard a metallic click, and opened his eyes to look at John.

The two men were both crouched down, staring at each other, an arm's width apart. Only now John had his gun in his hand, pointing it at Marty's head.

"Calm down," John hissed.

Marty almost wanted to apologize for losing it, the pieces of the puzzle still hadn't quite fallen into place.

"The doors will open when someone comes to get us," John continued.

And Marty knew, without another word, that they had been had. It wasn't a surprise to him that this man was betraying him, of course he had expected it – John had even admitted to working for the company! He could only feel anger, anger towards John, anger at himself for not objecting, anger at the damn company for chasing him through time and space.

John slowly got to his feet and motioned upwards with his gun. "Get up," it was more of a suggestion than a command, but Marty got to his feet anyway, and, unable to do anything useful, he spit in John's face.

John didn't flinch, but instead he cocked back the trigger of the gun, the sound echoing around the small section of the hallway, and Marty went still.

"Why are you even doing this? How much are they paying you?" Marty glared.

John's eyes seemed to soften for a moment. "It's not about the money. Never think it's about the money."

"So what is it? Why the hell am I even so important to you?"

John chuckled and backed up, lowering the gun, though keeping it trained on Marty. With nowhere to run and nothing to do, the two just stood facing each other off.

"I couldn't care less about you. You're like a little blip passing through my life."

"So you betray your friend for nothing?"

"I did it for him," John said softly, "though he won't care."

"Can't say I do either," Marty glared.

"You asked, I answered. What Morton does on her spare time hardly concerns me. She knew she could use me, and I knew I didn't want to become one of her damn experiments, so I played along. The problem is, while you might be the crown jewel on her crown, she wants it all. All the time energy, all the time travellers, all that data is only helping her cause."

"You said you wanted to stop them."

"I lied."

Marty almost wanted to laugh. They had been so stupid! "You didn't disarm the alarm system."

"Of course not."

"And offering me that gun?"

"Blanks. Not that it matter," he shook his head. "Only an idiot doesn't carry a gun to a fight."

"Only a coward relies on one."

"Watch it," John hissed.

Marty checked itself. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to make the man holding the gun angry. "So what do you want? You don't want to stop them and you don't seem to particularly care if they succeed. Why are you doing this?"

"You three would have gotten yourself all locked up in here if I didn't do anything, and that's something I didn't want. So I'm giving them you, and I'm giving them your Doctor, but I'm saving Jack – whether he wants me to or not."

It was Marty's turn to chuckle. "You're full of shit."

"It doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't even matter what Jack thinks, because I'll still have saved him from…" he smiled sadly, "well, a life you're about to have."

**To Be Continued…**

(While writing this episode my laptop had a hissy fit and decided to murder-kill Microsoft Word. This was the last chapter I got done before I just couldn't create new documents and I was terrified that I was going to lose all my old Word files as well. Luckily I managed to get all my files off the laptop – which was the only place I kept the drafts of Back to the Doctor – and am working from a new computer. The good news is that you're still going to get a chapter a day. The bad news is that I need to give my laptop a serious overhaul. Sigh…)


	4. Conversations with the Enemy

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 4

Before another word could be said – or another fight break out – between Marty and John, a panel in the wall slid open and four burly guards walked into the hallway, each one holding a machine gun.

"Took you long enough," John said in annoyance, putting away his gun.

The guards just sneered at John and Marty got the distinct impression and he wasn't the most popular employee at Morton Robotics.

"She wants to see him," one of the guards said without so much as a glance towards John.

_She?_ Marty's mind raced. Were they taking him to see the CEO of Morton Robotics? Ms. Morton herself? Or did they mean some other woman? He wanted to meet this CEO. He had a lot of questions for her.

"I know," John rolled his eyes. "I practically gift wrapped him for her."

The guard nudged Marty with his machine gun towards the door. "We'll take it from here."

"Oh no you won't. I'm not letting him out of my sight until she gets him."

The main` guard grunted unhappily, but as he shoved Marty through the opening he made no move to stop John. John clearly had some sort of authority then.

They didn't go far before they stopped at an elevator door. It opened as soon as they approached it, as though it had been anticipating their arrival. Marty caught sight of another camera, still no light on, still no movement, but he was now positive someone was watching them through it.

Marty was pushed to the back of the elevator and the guard pushed a button and inserted a key into the panel before the doors shut and they began to move again. What seemed like an instant later the doors opened and they entered a large well-lit room.

He had expected to be taken to some sort of office, but this room was covered in computer terminals and desks. Was this the mainframe room? The actual one and not whatever room John had been pretending was.

The far wall was made up of large glass windows and on the other side Marty caught a flash of blue – the TARDIS. Cables and wires were hooked up to its outside and two men in white lab coats were next to it, one of them looking annoyed and the other had a hammer in his hands and was physically trying to pry open the police box doors.

Marty was so focused on the TARDIS that he almost didn't notice the woman at first, not until she cleared her throat and took a step forward did he see her, and then she was all he could look at.

The woman was tall, and taller still in the black stilettos she wore. She had dark auburn hair that was loose, framing her face like a lion's mane, and she wore a fitted business suit and skirt. She looked at Marty and smiled, one of those large toothy smiles he only saw on actresses. She was beautiful, and she made Marty's skin crawl.

"So the guest of honour has arrive," her voice was like silk. "John, go play elsewhere now."

"About what we discussed-"

She narrowed her piercing green eyes at him and John instantly stopped talking and turned towards the door. He gave Marty one last look, then was gone.

A silence hung between her and Marty, her eyes looking him up and down, for so long he wanted to scream just to break it.

"Time travel's fun, isn't it? I haven't even sent out my robots to find you yet, but here you are anyway."

"You're not gonna get a chance to send out your robots, lady."

"Of course I am, otherwise you wouldn't be here. I have to admit, I'm jealous that you've met my little pets even before I have."

Pets? Marty wondered in maybe John hadn't just lied to them. There was something about this woman that was definitely unbalanced.

"When the Doctor-"

She held up a finely manicured hand. "Sh. Save yourself the embarrassment of threatening me. That's not why you came here."

"I came to stop you."

"And what else?"

"Save my friends-"

"And _what else_?"

"… Find out why," Marty squeaked.

"Of course you did. Everyone wants to know why they're special," if possible, her smile got even bigger.

"What do you want?"

She turned around and looked out the large glass windows, at the scientist now trying to pry open the TARDIS doors with a crowbar.

"Time travel's tricky, as I'm sure you're all but an expert in by now."

"Tell me about it," Marty rolled his eyes.

She turned back around. There was a glint in her eye. "What do you think the hardest part about time travel is?"

"Uh," too many things jumped to mind all at once.

"Let me rephrase," she walked towards him, each step making her tower higher and higher above him. "What's the most annoying part?"

"Screwing up the timeline."

She laughed, a sound like crystal bells that made twitch. "So naïve. You make it sound like there's some timeline worth preserving. Changing things is the whole point. It's the fun part. No one time travels just to see things unfold, not even your pompous Doctor."

Marty almost asked which "Doctor" she meant, but he thought it better to watch what he say around he. Insane or not, he could tell she was smart. Instead he started thinking about all the times he'd time travelled in the DeLorean. What was the thing that kept slowing him down over and over again? the thing that was even more difficult than fixing his mistakes? "Getting my time machine to work."

"Aha," she purred. "Time machines are always breaking down, getting stolen, downright disappearing. You can be the greatest time traveler in the world, but in the end you're always forced to rely on some damn machine to get from point a to point z. What if you could travel without a machine?"

"But… how could that be possible?"

"_Anything_ is possible Martin, you just have to try."

"So, you need time travellers, and the time energy… and you're doing all those tests, so that you can figure out how a person can time travel without a time machine? That's it?"

"_That's it?_ Martin, shame on you! I'm changing the universe as we know it!"

"But why?"

"If I can go anywhere, any time, with only my wits, then what can't I achieve in this universe?"

The prospect was daunting, he realized. How would they ever be able to stop a person like that from… oh god, what did she even want to do with that kind of power? A woman willing to kill and kidnap to get her own way hardly had good intentions at heart.

"But… why do you need me?"

She laughed again, and it sounded more like nails on a chalkboard to him.

"Can't a girl keep some of her secrets?"

**To Be Continued…**

(This was the chapter I was working on when my laptop decided it hated me. I had to restart it three times because I kept losing the file, sigh. I'm just glad the damn thing is finally seeing the light of day – when and how to reveal the big bad is always a good debate. Lots of people might have held off until the last two or three episodes, but I wanted to give my enemy a face. The robots are a good menacing image, but to me enemies need to evolve and I wanted my readers to know that there is an endgame here and far more to this than Marty or the Doctor thought at first.. Besides, I haven't put all my cards on the table just yet.)


	5. It's A Trap!

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 5

Jack dove for the opening as the blast door came down just behind Marty, but he was too slow, and a moment later he felt his skull impact with hard steel. He crumpled to the ground in pain, holding his head as a headache exploded in his senses. He could hear the Doctor angrily muttering to him, or maybe to the door, as he scanned it with his sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor gave up a second later, knowing it was utterly futile. He crouched down next to Jack and helped him sit up.

"Are you all right?"

Jack rested his head against the cold wall. "I'll live," he tried blinking black spots away from his eyes. "I guess you're not going to get that door open any time soon?"

"I think our best bet is to wait."

"Wait?" Jack didn't understand.

"Someone's going to show up sooner or later to collect us."

"And then what?"

The Doctor grinned. "And then we'll figure out a better plan."

Jack laughed, then winced in pain. It didn't take long for someone to show up, and by then the pain in Jack's head was beginning to disappear. Two machinegun-clad guards entered the small hallway.

"Get up," one of the snarled and Jack and the Doctor followed the order as the second guard began to search them for weapons, finding Jack's gun and pocketing it.

"Move," the guards kept their prisoners in front, pushing them into a new hallways with the gun's nuzzle.

Jack looked at the Doctor, but the Time Lord was looking ahead, still thinking of a way out of this. Jack, however, already knew what he had to do, and he knew that if he went too far the Doctor wouldn't forgive him. Surely the Doctor knew Jack had killed people before, but Jack knew that taking a life in front of him would cross a line he might not be able to cross back over.

"Keep your head down," Jack whispered. He swiveled around on his heel.

The guard Jack turned to meet gave a look of surprise and brought up his machinegun, but not fast enough. Jack grabbed the barrel, pushing it aside. The metal became hot and seared his skin as bullets flew out of it, impacting with the second guard and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Just an arm injury, Jack had time to note, before grabbing the machine gun in both hands and wrenching it from the guard's hands. Jack fought the urge to turn it around and shoot both guards and instead rammed the butt of the machinegun into the guards nose. He turned to the other guard and with a swift kick to his face sent him into dreamland.

Jack crouched down and searched the guard, finding his weapon and putting it back in his holster. He turned and smiled up at the Doctor, who gave him a disapproving look, but Jack couldn't help but think he saw a slight glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Come on," the Doctor took off running. The alarms hadn't gone off yet, but neither of them thought they had long before their escape was known.

They didn't go far before the Doctor slid to a stop, spotting a computer terminal with a locked panel covering it.

"Jack," the Doctor motioned to the panel. There was no point in being discreet and waste time picking the lock. Jack pulled out his pistol, aiming it at the lock and pulled the trigger. Sparks flew as the panel slid open. A few of the circuits were damaged, but that didn't get in the Doctor's way. He scanned the computer, his face remaining tense, but finally his expression softened.

"Rex," he whispered.

"You found him?" Jack leaned over his shoulder to read the screen, but it was a jumble of indiscernible numbers. He wasn't sure how the Doctor could make out anything on it.

"And a route to him. Come on," he took off running down the hall again and Jack followed closely.

"Here," the Doctor came to a stop in front of a locked door. "Maintenance closet," he said, and this time the sonic screwdriver managed to unlock it. "Nobody ever bothers to keep the mops safe."

"What do we want in here?" Jack looked around at the dead end.

"The air-vents," the Doctor replied calmly. He pressed a few buttons on a panel by the door, and then in a corner of the ceiling a panel leading into a small, dark tunnel opened.

Jack sighed. "I just had my jacket dry cleaned."

They squeezed into the air-vent. The metal sides hugged Jack so tightly for a brief second he worried that he'd get stuck, but he could make his way through – albeit slowly. The Doctor, who didn't have such wide shoulders, wasn't having as hard a time making his way along, but he went slowly, stopping at every vent to read off the numbers and check where they were.

Maybe twenty minutes passed, maybe thirty, every minute making Jack feel more and more claustrophobic. He felt like the vents were getting narrower. He was having a harder time pulling himself along, having a harder time keeping up with the Doctor. But finally the Doctor called back: "This is it."

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, and much to Jack's amusement he actually started using it to unscrew the bolts holding up the vent. Once the bolts fell away he weaved his fingers between the grate and pulled it up until the opening was large enough to squeeze through.

"I don't think I'll be able to get through there," Jack didn't like the idea of getting separated.

"Just stay here," the Doctor said over his shoulder. "I'll be right back."

"Right," Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not like those words have ever come back to haunt us."

The Doctor went out feet first, lowering himself slowly to the ground. He found himself in a small white room, a bed in the middle of the room, and on the bed lay Rex. Rex was unconscious, his wrists and ankles locked in metal straps.

"Can you get him out?" Jack called down, looking through the vent opening.

"I-" the Doctor only took a single step before he felt the ground shift beneath him. At first Jack didn't know what was happening, the Doctor looked like he had tripped over nothing, and began to fall – then kept falling. Jack finally realized a trap door had opened beneath the Doctor, and just as Jack called out to him, the door closed and the Doctor disappeared.

**To Be Continued…**

(I always get a little annoyed by just how roomy vents are in movies, so I wanted mine to be slightly claustrophobic, even though in real life no man would actually be able to fit into vent. Artistic license! Also, I've always loved the sonic screwdriver actually being used as a screwdriver.


	6. Right Hand Man

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 6

Jack reacted on instinct, lunging through the vent's opening headfirst after the Doctor, and almost instantly his shoulders became stuck. He struggled to free himself, suddenly feeling as though he were drowning in desperation, when the door of the room opened. He freed his arms just as two guards walked in and saw him hanging there like a piñata.

Jack's grabbed for his gun, but it was caught on the lip of the vent. The guards didn't hesitate; they raised their machineguns, pointed at his head, and pulled the trigger.

One of the guards reached for his radio as blood began to pool underneath Jack's limp body. "Target One's in the trap."

"And the other?" A female voice crackled back.

"Dead."

"I'm sending Mr. Jerrid down."

"Should we pull him out?" The other guard walked up to Jack, looking to see just how wedged into the vent he was.

"Let someone else clean up this bloody mess."

Jack felt a shudder run through him as life reanimated his corpse. He tried to stay as still as possible, feeling the wounds in his face close. The guards were talking to each other, facing each other – hopefully not paying any attention to him now that he was "dead." He opened his eyes into slits and saw the two guards casually talking to each other, and then slowly begun to bring his right arm up, his fingers wrapping around the gun's grip, and taking his time he began to wedge the gun out of the holster until it came free.

He whistled to get their attention. He couldn't help himself. He wanted to see the looks on their faces. They turned around and came face to face with Jack's gun.

"Drop your guns!" He yelled, but they didn't hear him over their terrified screams. They raised their machineguns, and not wanting to end up captured, Jack aimed at their shoulders. Their machineguns fell to the ground as their arms went numb from shock.

As they rolled on the ground in pain Jack wrestled his way out of the vent. He came loose so suddenly that he had no time to catch himself and fell to the ground hard on his back. The wind was knocked out of him, but he pushed through the pain and sat up, reaching towards the nearest machinegun and pointing it at his assailants.

"You're lucky I'm in such a good mood today," Jack pulled himself to his feet to look over Rex's bonds. A slit for a keycard was on the side of the bed. He turned back towards the guards. "Where's the key!"

"Please don't kill me," the guard sobbed.

"Give me the key then!"

"My… my front pocket!"

Jack carefully leaned over and plunged his hand into the man's pocket, pulling out a keycard. He swiped it and the bonds came undone with a snap, but Rex still lay there unconscious.

"Oh come on, we don't have time for this!" He reached over and slapped Rex across the face.

Rex's eyes came open with a start. He looked at Jack. "Jack?" His voice was groggy. He glared. "What the hell?"

"Get up Sleeping Beauty, we gotta go."

He handed the machinegun to Rex then grabbed the other one off the floor. He pointed it down at the guard who had given him the key.

"How do I open the trap door?"

"You need – oh god! – you need the password!"

"What's the password?"

"I don't know!"

Jack cocked the machinegun.

"I swear I don't know! But-but!"

"Jerrid knows!" The other guard whined.

"Who the hell is Jerrid?" Rex asked, sounding slightly groggy, but getting to his feet and looking quite menacing in his bloodstained shirt and pointing a machinegun at them.

"He's on his way down! Morton's right-hand man!"

Jack nodded towards the door and him and Rex quickly took sentry on either side.

"He gonna be here soon?" Rex asked, but the guard just sobbed in pain.

Practicing patience had ever been a strong point with Rex, but he needed a moment to get his bearings. They must have drugged him with something, because he felt like his head was full of cotton.

"What the hell does the 'trap door' lead to?" Rex managed to ask, trying to fill in the blanks he had missed after getting shot.

"The Doctor."

"And where's the kid?"

Jack was silent. Rex was about to ask a second time when the door suddenly slid open and a well-groomed man wearing a black suit walk in. His eyes went wide at the sight of the guards lying on the floor in pain, and then Jack grabbed him by the neck and pressed the barrel of the machinegun to his temple.

"Open the trap door Jerrid!"

"You incompetent idiots!" Jerrid screamed at the guards.

Rex stepped in front of him, his machinegun so close to Jerrid's face his eyes went cross-eyed trying to see it.

"Focus, Jerrid," Rex said calmly.

"Even if I let him go, none of you will escape here."

"You let us worry about escaping and you can worry about getting out of here with all your limbs intact."

Jerrid swallowed and nodded. "Take me to the keypad."

Jack pushed Jerrid towards the keypad by the door and he began to type in numbers with shaking fingers. Suddenly the trap door opened.

"Watch him," Jack let go of him and Rex pushed his machinegun against the back of Jerrid's head, just to remind him he was there.

Jack ran over to the trap door. It led into an identical room below. The Doctor smiled up at Jack.

"I was wondering where you went," he grinned.

"Take my hand," Jack got down and reached into the room. The two men grabbed each other by the wrist and Jack pulled the Doctor up. The Doctor managed a look of concern towards the guard before seeing Rex and Jerrid.

"Who's he?"

"He's going to take us to Marty – aren't you Jerrid?"

"Son of a bitch!"

"Easy Jerrid," Rex warned.

"Move," Jack pushed Jerrid out of the room, and once again couldn't help himself: "Take us to your leader." It felt good to finally have the upper hand.

"Oh, you're just a riot," Jerrid ground his teeth.

Suddenly a guard turned down the hall and Rex took aim.

"Shoot the legs!" Jack ordered quickly.

Rex had been trained to follow orders and he didn't even think twice. He immediately changed aim to his legs and a second later the man fell to the ground screaming in pain.

"No one dies today," Jack said briefly.

Rex knew better than to waste time asking questions he could get answers to later; but after Miracle Day, he also knew death was one of the great universal necessities. If Jack wanted them to live today, fine – they would still die one day. Everyone dies… except for him and Jack. The thought made Rex shudder.

"The elevator," Jerrid motioned and the four men quickly entered. Jerrid took out a key and inserted it into the panel, pushed a button, and began to move.

There was silence for a moment, and finally the Doctor spoke.

"Thank you, Jack."

Jack just nodded. The elevator doors opened.

They spilled into the room, seeing a tall woman with auburn hair standing next to Marty. Marty turned around, his eyes wide in surprise, a smile slowly spreading across his face, but Morton didn't seem terribly phased.

"Oh Jerrid," she sighed.

"So," the Doctor stepped forward and looked Morton over. Somehow, she had been exactly what he had expected to see. "I guess we have you to thank for the past few weeks."

"I believe so," she purred. "You must be the Doctor. I am delighted to meet you."

Morton took a step forward, reaching out her hand as thought she meant to shake his, but Rex brought up his machinegun.

"Don't move, lady!" He yelled and she went still. "We've got some questions for you."

"Let him go," she pointed a red-polished nail towards the man Jack held. "If you want to talk, let's be civil about this."

Jack let go of the man and he stumbled over to Morton, grabbing onto her left arm for dear life. She didn't seem to notice him. She kept staring down the Doctor, her expression somewhere between malice and amusement.

"I'll say this much: I'm sorry things didn't work out this time, but I am a patient woman," a smile grew across her face and she pulled the sleeve on her left arm, revealing a leather armband. Jack recognized it instantly, it was the same one he wore, a tool of the Time Agents.

"No!" Jack raised his gun, but she had already pushed a button.

Blue light surrounded her and her lackey as she locked eyes with Marty. "See you soon Martin, and your little Doctor too."

They had both disappeared. Jack swore, and suddenly the lights in the room began to flash.

"Self-destruct activated," a computer voice filled the room. "Self-destruct in 60 seconds… 59… 58…"

Jack swore again.

**To Be Continued…**

(The funnest thing about immortal characters is that you can kill them off as much as you want. Quite awesome. I wrote the first part of the chapter, then the last part, then the middle. Sometimes I have a hard time writing in a linear fashion. I always wonder if people can notice though. Does the flow feel different? If I hadn't said anything would you have ever known? Jerrid was a last minute addition. I wanted Morton to have a lackey. We'll see him again, no worries. Also, I never had intended to name Morton Morton, but now I'm having a hard time calling her anything else, lol. It's always so strange to me when my stories decide to play by their own rules.)


	7. Into the Blue

Back to the Doctor

And Doncha Come Back Part 7

"We have to get to the TARDIS!" The Doctor yelled over the self-destruct countdown.

The scientists had disappeared from the lab, either by the same teleportation that had spirited away Jerrid and Morton, or by an emergency exist. The Doctor hoped Morton wouldn't blow up a building full of her own employees, but there was no way he could check.

"Who has a self-destruct?" Marty asked no one in particular. "No seriously. Why does anyone build something and think: Know what would be awesome? If it blew up the second I left town."

"The window!" Jack shouted to Rex and the two men lifted their machineguns and opened fire. The bullets scratched and shook the glass, but after emptying both their clips, there wasn't any sign that the glass would break. They both threw down their guns in frustration.

"39... 38..."

"Uh, boys," Marty pointed towards the Doctor, who flipped his sonic screwdriver in the air with a smug grin on his face. The door into the lab was wide open.

"We should get one of those," Rex smiled and followed the Doctor into the lab.

As the count hit 30 the building began to shake. Marty ignored it; the Doctor was at the door, he was opening it, they were home free. They had won.

"Going so soon?" Captain John Hart stepped around the TARDIS, not blocking their way in, but holding a gun, which was good enough to stop all of them.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face again," Jack glared.

"My home is about to blow up because of you. I think you've gotten your revenge."

"Almost," Jack pulled out his gun.

The two were staring each other down, completely ignoring everyone else in the room, completely ignoring the countdown.

"18... 17..."

"Let it go Jack," the Doctor whispered to Jack.

"He betrayed me - us - again!"

"Not you, just them."

Jack raised his gun, his finger twitching on the trigger. "Same difference."

"If we stay we all die!" Marty shouted.

"I won't," Jack's voice was cold.

"I bet it'll still hurt though," John smiled.

"It'll be worth it."

"5... 4..."

"No time to argue!" Rex tackled Jack through the open TARDIS doors. Jack struggled to get back up, but Rex held firm as the Doctor followed.

"3..."

Marty jumped in, but not before seeing John reach for his arm...

"2..."

A blue light enveloped him and Marty slammed the door shut behind him.

"1."

The TARDIS shook, sending everyone standing to the floor. The Doctor was by the consul, he reached up and grabbed a lever and then the all-too familiar breathing sound drowned out that of the explosion.

"You should have left me!" Jack screamed at Rex.

"He's dead anyway," Rex shoved Jack aside and got back to his feet.

"Uh," Marty pulled himself up, about to tell Jack what he saw, but then thought better of it. What did he see? For all he knew John was dead. "Maybe he had one of those teleporter things?"

"It's called a vortex manipulator, and there's no maybe about it," Jack finally stood. "He was a Time Agent too, they all were."

"Jack, did you know that woman?" The Doctor asked.

Jack shook his head. "I never met her, but..."

"But?" Marty leaned forward.

"Once, before the agency dissolved, I heard about a Time Agent who went rogue - and I mean really rogue. She was linked to assassinations and robberies over the span of 2000 years - that we knew of. She was the Time Agencies most wanted. That was the beginning of the end for us."

"She wanted to turn people into time machines."

"Huh?" The three men looked at Marty in confusion.

"Like, she wanted to travel through time without a time machine."

"Is that possible?" Jack looked at the Doctor, who shrugged uneasily.

"Anything's _possible_."

"But is _this_ possible?"

The Doctor was silent.

"Well we blew up their man factory, right?" Marty looked around the room. "Can't we cross them off as defeated?"

"As long as she's alive, you haven't defeated her," Jack replied solemnly.

**To Be Continued in Episode Ten: Get Marty!**

(This episode brings this entire story over 88,000 words! To be precise, the last chapter did, but because I didn't bother figuring out how much of that was actual story and how much was author's comments, I'm not entirely sure when we crossed that bridge - hell, we might not have actually hit that yet. Either way, can you believe how long this bloody thing's gotten? Oh man, I need another break...)

[Sorry about the mix-up earlier!]


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